A Brush With History… Spirit of Christmas Spreads All Across Eastern Europe

It’s Christmas, and there is hope in the world.
I experienced some of this hope last summer when my husband, John, and I took a trip to Europe to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We were married in Frankfurt, Germany, and wanted to go back to where it all began. We took along our two oldest children, Patrick and Colleen.
As we were planning the trip, each of us had different ideas about where we should go.
Patrick, for instance, wanted to go to Berlin. My husband said if we were traveling to Berlin, we might as well continue on to Czechoslovakia. He always had wanted to see Prague.
I balked at the itinerary. It seemed like too much trouble to get visas and train reservations for Eastern Europe.
Today, my worries seem insignificant. I’m glad we took the trouble.
We traveled by train from Frankfurt to West Berlin, where the atmosphere was lively. Big stores were stocked with expensive merchandise; streets were jammed with luxury cars; elegant hotels, restraints and nightclubs were everywhere; and people were fashionably dressed.
From West Berlin, we entered East Berlin and traveled by train to Prague. Our timing was propitious. We saw what life was like behind the Iron Curtain months before the curtain was lifted and a new act in the theater of life began.
It was a short subway ride from West Berlin to East Berlin, but the contrast in cities couldn’t have been greater.
After a border check, we explored the city. Few people were on the streets; stores seemed to carry little merchandise; restaurants, hotels and cars were scarce; historic buildings were in a state of decay.
And the Berlin Wall was heavily guarded.
I was filled with sadness.
Colleen kept asking, “How can people live like this?”
When we boarded the train for Prague, we found our sleeping car had only three beds. I suggested we double up; I didn’t want my family to be separated. The conductor decided otherwise and sent Patrick promptly off to find a seat in a third-class car.
Several times throughout the night, our passports and visas were thoroughly examined; our pictures were compared to our faces by authorities who shined flashlights into our eyes.
We arrived in Prague in the early morning, relieved to meet up Patrick.
He had spent the night comparing lifestyles and playing cards with some young East German men. They were impressed that Patrick had a driver’s license and that he wore his Chicago Bears hat backward.
Prague was beautiful. It had more energy than East Berlin, but it was communist and life didn’t look easy.
A few months after our trip, East Germans began fleeing their homeland. Then restrictions on their travel were lifted.
At first, I thought I would want out, too. Then reality hit. As difficult as life was in East Germany, it was home to its people.
The answer was the wall – it had to crumble. When it did, there was dancing in the streets. This jubilation was followed by dramatic political reforms in Czechoslovakia.
Our trip and the subsequent political events in Eastern Europe have made me realize that there always will be struggle, injustice, pain and suffering in the world.
But if we strive to improve from within and rise to the occasion, as the Czechs did in Prague, our search for truth and beauty will keep us on the trail blazed at the birth of Christ.
The spirit of Christmas brings joy to the world. This year, it is taking a step closer in the direction of peace on earth and good will toward men.
December 25, 1989